friends and supporters, had been a proof that there existed somewhere a sincere desire to banish from the world its liquid idols, such a proof was certainly not wanting. But, alas! appearances are often deceitful: and so it has been proved, in the case of this Society. The great body of those who enlisted in its service, were not true to the cause they professed to espouse. So long as they could enjoy the honour arising from being considered the enemies of drunkenness, without putting themselves to much trouble, or making any material sacrifices, they continued within its ranks: but, so soon as they saw that the warfare, if heartily engaged in, would endanger their ease, or their interests, or was likely to occasion the loss of their own most cherished idols, they resolved still to cling to those idols, and ingloriously to forsake the field.

The New Temperance Societies,* namely, those based on the principle of Total Abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, have certainly met with a greater degree of favour than the old Society, and have been blessed with an extraordinary degree of success, in reclaiming the most vicious, and degraded victims of intemperance.† They have not, indeed, received much of that kind of patronage, which consists in giving names, and + See Appendix S.

* See Appendix R.

doing nothing; but they have received the hearty approbation and support, of hundreds of thousands of the humbler classes, on whom they have already conferred benefits, of such inestimable value that eternity alone can reveal it.

There can be no doubt, that many of the first friends of the Old Society forsook it, from perceiving its want of adaptation to the evil it was intended to remedy. They discovered that it left too many of the causes of intemperance unmolested, to be an efficient instrument of usefulness; and they believed that they had discovered a more excellent way: but while some, who gave it their support in its origin, for these reasons deserted it, a vast majority of the professors of religion have ever viewed it with contemptuous indifference, or aversion; and no other reason can be assigned for their doing so, than its presuming to meddle with those drinking customs, to which they were resolved to cling, with idolatrous and undiminished fondness.

As to the Societies which discountenance the use of all intoxicating liquors, and which, by doing so, lay the axe to the root of the tree of intemperance, it is enough to say, that while they have been prospered far beyond the most sanguine expectations of their first friends, they are still regarded by multitudes, who appear among the

foremost, in the ranks of a holy profession, with as inveterate a dislike, as the inhabitants of Athens manifested towards the Great Apostle, when, boldly standing on Mars' Hill, amidst the fascinating emblems of their idolatry, he exclaimed, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that, in all things, ye are too superstitious."*

The various religious denominations of Wales, and particularly in the northern part of the principality, have, indeed, for the most part, stood nobly forward, in support of the Total Abstinence principle; and, although they may have lost the smiles of a few of the traffickers in strong drinks, God has blessed them with an increase of numbers, and with a large amount of genuine spiritual prosperity.†

*Acts xvii. 22.

†The prosperity of the Societies in this country is truly astonishing. The alteration for the better, in a civil and religious point of view, is so very evident to a resident in Wales, that if he has any remains of Christian feeling in him, he is ready to exclaim, "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

It is stated in "The Friend," that 600 ministers have signed the pledge in North Wales alone. Great revivals of religion have commenced, in some of the churches, and there is a continual increase in their numbers.

It is computed, that about one hundred thousand persons have signed the pledge in Wales.

In England, also, there are not a few, in the different sections of the church, who are both willing to act on this principle, and openly to avow their belief, that it is only through the adoption of it, by the church in general, we have any reason to expect, that our country will be speedily delivered, from the numerous and complicated evils, which intemperance has

The cause of Total Abstinence is progressing, with astonishing rapidity, in South Wales.

Although the work may be said to be just commencing, yet, in some towns, two-thirds of the inhabitants have joined our ranks."-Second Report of the New Brit. and For. Temp. Soc.

Since the publication of the above statement the cause has been steadily progressing in every part of the Prin cipality.

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By the institution of Temperance Societies," says the Rev. J. Leifchild, "a reformation has taken place among the miners of that country, who, a little while ago, were the terror of their neighbourhoods; but they are become now, in many instances, persons fearing God, and working righteousness, and the most orderly, and the most decent of any class known in the country. In one place particularly, which it is my happiness to be acquainted with, individuals of this description have appropriated their wages to the erection, in a certain district, within the last three years, of no less than six different places of worship; one of which is capable of containing two thousand people."- Sermon on the Signs of the Times.

brought upon her. But among those whom the world denominates rich and honourable, and even among those who minister in holy things, and who, by the very office they sustain, are under the most solemn obligations to be ever ready to every good word and work, this principle has only, here and there, an open advocate; and there is too much reason to fear, that, in nineteen cases out of twenty, the pulpit would be considered, by both ministers and people, to be absolutely desecrated, were it employed for advocating this principle, as an efficient, practicable, and lawful remedy for intemperance.*

The most ardent and useful friends of Temperance Societies, are, mainly, to be found in the poorer, and less ostentatious divisions of the church. These are not yet under the deadening

* Among the few ministers who, in England, have ventured to become the advocates of the Total Abstinence doctrine, it must not be forgotten, that there are to be found the names of men, who reflect the brightest lustre on the communities to which they belong-men whose piety is unquestionable, whose zeal is of the most ardent character, and whose learning and prudence have obtained for them the most honourable distinctions. That such men should have seen anything, in the Total Abstinence system, to entitle it to their approval, ought, at least, to repel from it those sneers and cavils, by which it has been assailed by many of their less distinguished brethren.